Acceptance
by justanothercrazybrunette
Summary: The flock meets a new group of bird kids. IggyxOC FAX and perhaps a little NudgexOC...
1. Chapter 1

So this is quite literally a story I came up with right off the top of my head, but the stupid plot bunny wouldn't leave me alone 'till I posted it, so here it is.

Disclaimer: Sadly I do not own Maximum Ride.

IGGY POV

SLAM! Iggy suddenly found himself up against a tree. _How did I miss an eraser?_ He thought, _after all, there was no way he was that distracted._

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" A voice growled right next to his ear. _Yep, definitely an eraser_. The blind bird kid was so caught up in his battle plan he almost missed the next question. "Did the school send you? Huh? Cause if they did you can just forget it. There's NO WAY we're going back there. Ever. Got it?"

Iggy started, "What the hell are you talking about Eraser? What is this? Some sort of sick mind game? Get the blind kid to believe your some sort of rogue villain set on escaping those sickos, have me lead you back to my family, and then kill all of us? Or worse? I'd rather die!" Iggy spat at this eraser. The hand on his throat loosened.

"What? You're not...but..." the voice strayed off, confusion clear, _well fake confusion,_ Iggy thought bitterly. Suddenly, his captors hand was around his wrist. It dragged his arm towards something. Then, his hand scraped fabric_. What_? he thought, _what is this?_ His captors hand dragged his over the fabric, and then feathers, _no, not feathers, wings_. 

"You're not an eraser." He stated, his voice almost silent.

The voice, which Iggy now admitted, although threatening, did not have a certain wolfish characteristic, replied, "No. No I'm not. My name's Lyric. I'm 98% human and-" 

"2% bird." Iggy finished. "Yah I know. It means you have wings. Like my family. Like me."  
_

LYRIC POV

"Show me." Lyric demanded. "I don't believe you." After all, she didn't. He had to be lying. There was no one else like her, like- 

"There's NO WAY I'm leading you to them! Just because you're not an eraser, doesn't mean you're not still evil." The boy ranted. 

"Not THAT stupid. I'm not a complete idiot. Show me your wings. I don't believe you. " 

"Oh." The boy said, and to Lyric he sounded sort of chagrined. "Could you let go of me first?" 

With the sudden realization that she still had one hand around this strangers wrist, and the other arm pinning him against the tree, she jumped back, blushing furiously. The boy didn't seem to notice, in fact, he didn't seem to see her at all. _Earlier, _she thought,_ didn't he say something about being the blind kid?-_ She was yanked out of her thoughts, AGAIN, as the tall boy in front of her shook out his wings.

Much to her own embarrassment, she gasped. "I'm soooo sorry for attacking you! Lyric started, "I didn't realize- I thought- I mean I didn't know you had wings..."

The boy shrugged, "Don't worry about it. I'm Iggy by the way." 

"Nice to meet you." Lyric opened her mouth to say something else, but a voice cut across hers. 

"IGGY!" IGGY WHERE ARE YOU!"  
_

GENERAL POV

"IGGY!" Max screamed, where did he go? It wasn't like him to take this long with something...unless... 

"Max, Iggy will be alright, right? I mean, he couldn't be hurt or anything...He's probably just playing a joke on us, and he's going to jump out and grab our shoulders. Wouldn't that be awful? I think I would freak out if-" 

Smack! Another successful diversion to Nudge's ramblings. Of course, she had to cover her mouth first... 

"Angel, are you picking up any of Iggy's thoughts? Is he hurt or something?" The blonde haired child in question tilted her head to the side. 

"He's not hurt, he's really confused though. He was sorta distressed earlier, but not anymore, so I don't think he's in danger...He's almost like...trusting now. Not really, but like...not scared..." 

"Where is he?" Max questioned, going into super-ultra-leader mode. 

"Just beyond these trees, in the next clearing, but there's something I need to tell you-" 

"Come on guys! He's just over this way!" 

"But Max! I need to tell you something first! There's someone-" 

"Later Angel! Let's make sure he's okay first..." With those words the flock entered the clearing. 

The scene that greeted them was definitely NOT what they were expecting. Iggy was standing next to a tree at the opposite side of the clearing, facing the rest of the flock. Next to him was a girl, about an inch or two shorter than Max, with fairly long, auburn hair, blue eyes, and wings. 

"I tried to tell you..." Angel murmured.  
_

LYRIC

Iggy and I had just turned towards the yelling, when a group of kids walked into the clearing. A girl about my age stood in the front. She was obviously the leader. A little blonde haired girl stood slightly behind her, toting a beat up teddy bear. On the leaders other side was a dark skinned girl with a poof of dark hair. The mocha skinned girl was clutching the hand of a blonde haired boy, looking remarkably like the youngest girl. Standing slightly behind the rest of the group was a dark haired boy, about the same age as the leader. 

"Who. Are. You." The leader asked, in a clipped manner. Lyric just stared at her for a moment, stepping slightly behind Iggy. She had never met someone like this before, and thankfully, it was Iggy who eventually spoke up. 

"Max, this is Lyric. She's like us. I just sorta ran into her. I mean, yah, we tried to kill each other first, but we're totally cool now. Right Lyric?" He slung his arm over the girls shoulders. He wasn't sure why, but he really didn't want Max to strangle her. Lyric simply nodded mutely.

And then, yet another group of people entered the clearing.  
_

GENERAL POV

Max immediately went on the defensive. She pushed Nudge and Angel behind her, while Fang grabbed Gazzy. 

On the opposite side of the clearing, a very confused Lyric found her view suddenly blocked by the shoulders of a certain blind bird kid. Max looked towards the new "threat", trying to determine whether or not she should force the younger kids to do a U and A now. Within moments, she realized that that would definitely not be necessary. The three children standing on the other side of the clearing were tall and thin. The oldest looked about the same age as Nudge. He was a blonde boy, with dark eyes, and tan skin. Standing slightly behind him were two kids, both with dark brown hair, and hazel eyes. They seemed to be about Gazzy's age, and the only obvious difference between them was that the girls hair was pulled into a pair of high pigtails, while the boy had his cut short.

While Max had been analyzing them, it seemed that the oldest boy was doing a little analysis of his own, and when his eyes landed on Iggy and Lyric, his face contorted with rage. 

"LET GO OF HER!" He screamed, flying (although, not literally) towards the two.

Before the flock could even react, Lyric peeked her head over Iggy's shoulder, and exclaimed, "Gabe! HI!" Gabe stopped short. The rest of the heads in the clearing turned to stare at the auburn haired girl. Still smiling, she said, "Iggy and friends, this is Gabe, Mello, and Dani! They're my family."


	2. Chapter 2

I know, its been FOREVER. The truth is I sorta forgot about this story for a while...and then lost what I had made up...

Disclaimer: I own nothing ...well, I own Lyric and Gabe and Mello and Dani, but besides them I own nothing.

* * *

**MAX**

An hour later found the ten bird kids gathered around a fire at the flocks temporary camp site.

"So let me get this straight," Max started, "You four escaped from a school-like facility thing somewhere in Florida. Lyric-" she pointed at the girl in question, "is the oldest at 14, Gabe-" she pointed at him, "is 13, and then Mello and Dani-" she turned towards the youngest two, "are twins, and they're both 7. And you just HAPPENED to end up in the exact same forest as us. You really expect me to believe that?"

Gabe raised one eyebrow, "We don't _expect _you to believe anything. If it weren't for Lyric here," he said, jerking a thumb in her direction, "and her inability to go three seconds without getting in trouble we wouldn't even be having this conversation."

Lyric stuck her tongue out at him. "Don't worry about him, he's always a little cranky." Gabe glared at her.

_Max__ I r__eally __think __we __can __trust __them, _Angel mind-spoke, _They __seem __really __nice, __Lyric __trusts __us, __but __Gabe __is __sorta __suspicious. __They __don__'__t __seem __evil __or __anything._

Yah. Well, that didn't mean a whole lot.

Iggy chimed in here, "Where's your campsite?"

Before either Max or Gabe could protest, Lyric replied, "We don't have one yet. I was supposed to be looking for one when I ran into you..."

"You should stay with us!" Nudge exclaimed, bubbling with excitement, "Wouldn't it be so cool? We could all travel around together, all ten of us, it would be awesome! I mean, we've never met anyone else with wings before, except when they grafted wings onto the erasers, but that didn't count because they were all weird and-"

"Nudge." Fang said, cutting across her rambling. She grinned sheepishly at him. Max turned towards him, seeking his opinion on the newcomers. He shrugged.

_Well_, _THAT__'__S __helpful, _Max thought bitterly. She glanced at the rest of the flock. Gazzy was whispering with Mello, while the dark haired boy grinned at what was sure to be an evil plan. Angel was showing Celeste to Dani, who looked on in awe. Nudge seemed to be holding her breath while waiting for Max's decision. Iggy was sitting with his back against a tree trunk. He had his eyes closed, and appeared to be listening intently to what was going on. Max sighed quietly. The younger kids had never really known anyone outside of the flock...

"I guess you could stay here..." She said hesitantly, "But there are conditions." She said, switching over to her I'm-in-charge-so-don't-mess-with-me voice. Lyric nodded and looked at her expectantly. Gabe glared at Lyric. "The second I decide you're not welcome here, you're gone. No questions asked." She leaned in towards the outsiders and whispered menacingly, "You try to hurt us, I'll kill you. You try to sell us out, I'll kill you. You try to sabotage us when we're fighting some enemy, I will boil you alive. Comprende?"

The auburn haired girl nodded, and offered Max a small smile before saying, "You have nothing to worry about, besides, you outnumber us. Shouldn't we be the ones feeling threatened by you?"

Gabe gaped at her, before whispering furiously, "What the hell do you think you're doing? This isn't just your decision! It affects all of us! What if this whole paranoia thing is just a front and they're from the school? You think those psychos aren't capable of it?"

Throughout his entire rant, Lyric sat there and stared at him. After he was done she simply stated, "Look at Dani and Mello. They're so happy. I just assumed they would agree. Would you like me to ask them?" He glared at her before shaking his head stiffly.

Max watched the two a moment longer, and then calling, "Alright everyone! Gather round, lets see what we have for food!" With those words, all the bird kids from both of the merry bands of refugees conjugated around Fang's bag.

**GABE**

Gabe stood awkwardly off to the side as Max called everyone over. He didn't trust these people, and he desperately wanted to drag Lyric and the twins out of there. Unfortunately, he was out voted, so he was resigned to making sure his family didn't get into even more trouble.

Everyone had just gathered around one of the larger group's bags. He sighted , and slung his own bag off his shoulders. "I have some food over here too, " he called out.

Iggy, the tall blond one grinned in his general direction. "Excellent!" he exclaimed, before grabbing the can Gabe held out to him. He turned to Lyric, who had been standing right next to him and tapped her on the shoulder. "What is this?"

She glanced down at it and replied, "Chef Boyardee. The ravioli type." He nodded and pulled out a pocket knife, stabbing the top of the can. Gabe glanced over at Lyric again. She was biting her lip and seemed to be contemplating something. _Uh __oh,_Gabe thought, _What __is __she-?_

"Need some help? She asked the boy before Gabe could even complete his thought. Iggy's head jerked up automatically at the sound of her voice.

"Sure, I guess so," he said, surrendering the can. Gabe pictured himself walking over to the nearest tree and slamming his head against it. Repeatedly. Leave it to Lyric to completely abandon all sense of self preservation simply because she _wanted_ to trust these people. Sure, he had known the girl his entire life, but he still couldn't understand her reasoning. Maybe shad had taken one too many blows to the head...

**IGGY**

As Iggy sat munching on cold, instant raviolis (which, although disgusting, were still better than desert rat), he thought about what a weird day it had been. Sure, it started off simply enough, but it definitely turned weird when he went to search for firewood an hour or two before dinner.

He had been thinking about where they were headed next. Max had said the Voice told her to head to Boston, but it wouldn't say why. He had been gone about ten minutes , when he suddenly found his back pressed to a tree. _That __would __be __Lyric,_he thought with a smile. He hadn't even heard her coming. He would have to ask her how she did that...Oh well. That would be later.

He had been sure she was an eraser, and his first instinct towards her was hatred. Raw, undiluted hatred. Of course, that was only because he thought she was trying to hurt him. Hurt his family. As soon as she made it clear that was not her intention, his feelings towards her shifted. Now he felt...confused. Before he knew Gabe was no threat, at least towards her, Iggy had felt an surge of protectiveness towards the girl. It was...strange. He shouldn't be that attached.

And then, just a few moments ago, she had asked if he had needed help, _and __he __had __said __yes._ If anyone else had asked him, he would have shaken his head and claimed competence. He hadn't with her. _Note __to __self: __Investigate __further._Iggy tilted his head upwards when he heard someone walk towards him.

"Hey." _Gazzy._

"Hey." He replied, popping another ravioli into his mouth.

"Have you talked to that Mello kid yet? He seems kind of cool. And that other one, Dani, is his real sister, but they're twins, so it makes more sense than me and Angel..."

"Will you describe them to me? I can't picture them."

"Sure. Well...like I said, Mello and Dani are twins. They both have dark hair. Almost the same color as Nudge. They're sort of pale, and they have hazel eyes. Mello's hair is short. Like how mine is when Max attacks me with scissors. Dani's hair is really long though. She has it in like...two ponytails, I forget what that's called. And even though they're like...really high up on her head they still go past her shoulders."

He paused for a moment, so Iggy encouraged him. "What about...Gabe?" Not what he had wanted to say, but he could wait to hear about Lyric.

"Gabe? He's the grumpy one, right?"

"Yah" Iggy replied with a small smirk.

"Ooookay, Gabe's...blond, but not like me and Angels blond. It's darker...sort of sandyish I guess. And he has these wicked dark eyes. Not quite as dark as Fang's, but close. He's always glaring too. And he's really tan. Sour of like when we can't get anywhere with a shower for a while, but evener. I don't think its dirt related though, 'cause otherwise the twins would be like that to."

"What about Lyric?"

"Lyric...hmmm...well, she's shorter than Max, but only by like two inches. She has long hair, and its really super straight. The total opposite of Nudge's. It's sorta brownish, but its sorta red too. It's hard to explain. She has blue eyes, but they're darker than yours, sorta ocean-y." Gazzy stopped for a second before exclaiming, "Well, that's really it! I think I'm gunna go see what Angel's up to..."

Iggy listened to his friend get up and walk away. _I __think __I__'__ll __show __him __a __color __wheel. __Maybe __then __he __could __be __more __specific __than __brownish __with __red._

**FANG**

Fang slid silently into the seat next to Max. "So what do you think?" She murmered, not taking her eyes off the rest of the flock. He pondered this for a moment before replying.

"I think that Lyric girl had a point, we do out number them. Even if it's only by two people. If we had to fight them, we could easily take the down. I also think the younger kids really like them." He paused and motioned towards where Nudge, Angel, and Dani sat, chatting happily. "I think Gazzy is going to have that Mello kid blowing stuff up by the end of the day. And then there's Gabe...I don't think he's..._malicious_ exactly, but I think he's paranoid the same way we are."

Max nodded and replied, "I don't trust them. It's too convenient for them to find us. But then again, when Gabe saw Iggy in front of Lyric he went after him. Not in the oh-the-school-sent-me-to-get-you way, but in the my-family-is-in-danger way. I think I'm going to cut them some slack, and if they end up trying to hurt us, I'll just hang them with it." She smiled bitterly, then sighed, "What time is it?"

Fang glanced down at his watch, "7. It will probably be getting dark soon."

"All right. We should probably get the fire set up." Max said. Standing up, she yelled, "Yo Iggy! Wanna help us build up a fire?" The blind boy grinned briefly and got to work.

**LYRIC**

By the time the fire was ready, dark had crept up and enveloped the campsite. Lyric was helping Dani unroll her sleeping bag, while Gabe and Mello made sure all the bags were closed up. Lyric looked around at the rest of the bird kids. They were all lounging comfortably in the glow of the fire, having already set up.

Lyric brushed a strand of hair out of her eyes and smiled at the dark haired girl in front of her. "All set?"

"Yah." Dani replied before snuggling down into her temporary bed. Lyric gave the girl a quick hug and went to check on the other twin.

"Hey," she whispered.

"Hi," Mello responded, gazing up at her.

"Do you need anything?"

He shook his head and said, "I think Gabe wants to talk to you." Mello motioned towards where the other boy sat, brooding. Sighing, Lyric went to talk to him.

"You want to sleep closer to the fire? It might get cold later..." Gabe shook his head.

"How can you trust them? We don't even know them!" He whispered furiously at her. A smile danced at the corner of her lips. Lyric was used to Gabe's temper. Even though she was technically the oldest, Gabe always took it upon himself to take care of her. It was how he got his name – Gabriel- it was the only angel they knew the name of.

"I _want_ to trust the." Lyric replied, "So I'm going to try to."

The outrage was clear on Gabe's face, "That doesn't mean you can!"

"Gabe, if they wanted to hurt us they could've already." Lyric peered at her almost-brother form underneath her bangs. Her thoughts didn't seem to placate him. "Would it make you feel better if me and you switched off watch tonight? I'm sure they're going to be doing a watch of their own."

Gabe nodded, "Yeah, I'll take first watch. You can get some sleep."

"Alright," she replied, giving the boy a brief hug, before walking over to her sleeping bag and laying down.

**MAX**

After making sure Angel, Gazzy, and Nudge were alright, Max sat down in between Fang and Iggy. "Who wants to take first watch?"

"Not me!" Iggy exclaimed, "I'll take last watch though!"

Max nodded and turned to Fang, "Do you want first watch, or the graveyard shift?"

"I'll take first watch. You guys go get some sleep." Max smiled at Fang, and the three older kids repeated their traditional fist-tap.

* * *

AN.

Alright, First of all, what did you think? Good? Bad? Indifferent?

I have a few specific questions.

1. What do you think of the OC's?

2. Did I manage to keep the characters in character?

3. I might be looking for a Beta (I've never actually had a beta before, so I'm not entirely sure how it goes) Anyone interested?

Also, yes, I know Gazzy technically should have said "Angel and I" but he's 8, and his lack of structured schooling probably means he doesn't know that and/or follow it. His speech pattern is supposed to match that of an 8 year old, so please realize that before you all point out my horrible grammar. If anything else is wrong (grammar or otherwise) feel free to point it out though.


End file.
